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The Crucible by Arthur Miller will continue the run of heavy-discussion-topic books we’ve been reading in my book club with Madeleine. In the last year we’ve read Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Life of Pi by Yann Martel, In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez, and Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce. We’ve discussed moral issues covering everything from friendship to revolutionary resistance to the corrupting influence of money. And now we’re tackling witchcraft and socially sanctioned violence. Whew, it’s been exhausting!

But it’s also been a great outlet to talk about issues the girls are covering in school, and to find out about how their perspectives differ from those of their moms. For instance, when we read In the Time of the Butterflies the girls were mostly in favor of the Mirabal sisters’ revolutionary resistance to the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. The moms on the other hand had a hard time believing they would willingly endanger their children in pursuit of a cause.

It challenged all of us to think about the most important things in our lives and what we’re willing to sacrifice to achieve a higher cause.

Last night twelve moms and daughters gathered for our February book club meeting. This is my book club with my younger daughter, Catherine, who is in 7th grade.

Our hostesses planned a lively evening with activity ideas from the book. Remember Me to Harold Square is about a high school boy from Wisconsin who spends six weeks one summer in New York City with friends of his parents, who have a high school daughter and a middle school son. The four parents have devised a six-week-long scavenger hunt for the kids to help them experience the best of the city and stay busy for the entire visit.

We started off with a mom-devised scavenger hunt that had all the girls working together to find the clues they needed to put together a message about their prize: a special English trifle for dessert. The game was quite a hit. When it was over we all enjoyed bagels with cream cheese, lox, and veggies—one of the many meals the book’s characters tried during their adventure.

This book generated lots of great discussion. We talked about whether it’s an advantage for girls to be friends with boys before they start to date them and the difficulties of getting seriously romantically involved with someone when you’re still young. None of the daughters are dating yet, or even plan to, so it was a good way to talk about dating issues theoretically.

We all liked the idea of creating a summer scavenger hunt for museums, parks, food, etc. in our city. The moms voted to put together a list for the girls by the end of school so they can plan summer time together.

Our next selection: Stolen Voices by Zlata Filipovic. We’ve been to two separate readings in Portland with Zlata and are excited to dive into her newest book.

If you like peanut butter, you’ll probably like these cookies. And this has to be the easiest cookie recipe I’ve ever made. I got if from a vice-principal at my daughter’s middle school and tried it out on my writer’s group last night. It was a universal hit.

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

Mix all ingredients in a medium size bowl. Roll into small balls and place on a non-greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 – 9 minutes.

These are really yummy, and I even had a couple with my coffee this morning.

Mother Daughter Book Club with my oldest daughter, Madeleine, was last night. It was a bit chaotic, with girls and moms arriving late and leaving early because of sports and homework commitments, but none of us wants to miss a meeting unless there’s no other option. Our group has been together for more than six years, and we often don’t see each other outside of book club.

Our selection this month was Driver’s Ed by Caroline B. Cooney. All the girls have either recently gotten their licenses or drive with a permit, so they had strong opinions about both the teens and adults in the book.

One mom described the book as having a storyline perfect for “an after-school special.” It involves a senator’s son, a girl from an unconventional household, teen love, a burned-out teacher, death, a horrible secret and facing the consequences of one’s actions.

Most of our book club members thought the characters in Driver’s Ed were two dimensional, and everyone agreed that both moms in the book were unrealistically portrayed. But we had a good discussion about actions that turn out to have dire consequences even though they seem harmless when you choose to do them. And we all got a chance to talk about our current experiences, with moms weighing in on frightening times in the passenger seat and daughters talking about parents “freaking them out” and making them nervous behind the wheel. It was fun to realize that most of our stories were similar.

I would recommend reading Driver’s Ed for the discussion it prompts rather than for the book itself.

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Cindy Hudson's Book by Book: The Complete Guide to Creating Mother-Daughter Book Clubs (Seal Press) offers advice for starting book clubs and keeping them thriving as daughters grow.
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E-Books and individual guides have everything you need to plan your mother-daughter book club meetings: a book review, exclusive author interview, discussion questions, activities to try and recipes. Find out more here.

Author Cindy Hudson and her daughters

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Meeting Planner Guides Now Available

E-Books and individual guides have everything you need to plan your mother-daughter book club meetings: a book review, exclusive author interview, discussion questions, activities to try and recipes. Find out more here.